Google’s book club

At the end of Google’s Zeitgeist, a command performance which the Los Angeles Times archly likened to the World Economic Forum at Davos, high-level attendees were bequeathed with a copy of a book entitled, “Here Comes Everybody” The Power of Organizing Without Organizations,” by one, Clay Shirky.

We must confess to not having heard of the book but

it appears to have been favorably reviewed by the likes of Chris Anderson (‘The Long Tail‘) and a couple of dozen reader contributors on Amazon.

And if Google hands it out, it must be important.

According to Shirky’s web site, the book “is about what happens when people are given the tools to do things together, without needing traditional organizational structures.”

What happens is presumably good.

Mr. Shirky, a teacher, writer and consultant, according to the book jacket, also has a blog, although its most recent entry was in early May.

As of this writing, the book is #805 on Amazon’s best-seller list. We’ll see if Google which already wields the kind of influence normally accorded to a nation state, has the marketing heft of, say, Oprah, to raise that ranking somewhat.